Autism HWB

In My Room

Some fern branches against an unfocussed background

By Allison Kramer

My bedroom is my safe place. It has always been my refuge from a sensory hostile world. There was a time two decades ago when it was also my prison.

I used to be so sure I was lazy. What else could explain my love of staying at home doing nothing? Other people always seemed to be doing stuff. Socialising, working, exercising, travelling, making things, exploring places, shopping, enjoying themselves. Doing instagrammable stuff even before Instagram was even a thing.

Mindfulness

By Olivia Armstrong

I’ve always been an anxious person, long before my diagnosis. While I was always comfortable around my family, venturing beyond opened up a strange and closed-down version of myself that often unsettled people around me. I was prone to anxiety attacks, meltdowns and shutting down, which I felt worked for the time when I was confined to only socialising in school years. When the real world came into the picture, things got a lot more complicated.

Dancing is Existing

Image is of two hands held in the air, it looks like their tattood owner is dancing.

Riah Person (Interviewed by Florence Neville)

I officially got diagnosed in July but I’ve been on this more upfront journey since around January/February when I got burnout. I found Agony Autie and her videos on stim dancing and it was like, “Oh my gosh, I think I do this! Hello? I have questions! This looks like me right here!” I was, “All of my weird movements have been me trying to keep myself alive. Wow, I didn’t even know!”

Creativity & Stimming

In 2019 I carried out a study to explore how late-diagnosed autistic women (like me) managed their health and wellbeing. You can read the summary of my findings here. This is the last of four blog posts describing the themes I identified when analysing the interviews. You can find the first one here, the second one here, and the third one here.

Vipassana – a Buddhist bridge to the body

Image is of an ornate stone bridge over a river

By Sasha

I’ve heard that Buddhism often appeals to autistics, I’ve even heard it suggested that Buddha was autistic too, but conjectures aside, I fit that stereotype.

Whilst I’d been using a wide array of (mostly arcane) tools to dig myself out of the emotional chaos of my younger years (growing up an undiagnosed autistic, transgender migrant), learning to meditate in the Vipassana tradition when I was twenty-five has been one of the foundations that I built my personal development on.

Individual Environments

Image is of a winding footpath through summer grasses, wildflowers and the shade of a tree

In 2019 I carried out a study to explore how late-diagnosed autistic women (like me) managed their health and wellbeing. You can read the summary of my findings here. This is the third of four blog posts describing the themes I identified when analysing the interviews. You can find the first one here and the second one here.

Individual Health Practices

Image shows four spoons each with different spices. Other spices are scattered around them.

In 2019 I carried out a study to explore how late-diagnosed autistic women (like me) managed their health and wellbeing. You can read the summary of my findings here. This is the second of four blog posts describing the themes I identified when analysing the interviews. You can find the first one here.

Creative Wellbeing

There’s a well-kept secret that no one tells you about being creative; you don’t have to be good at it to get the benefit.

Forest Bathing

Image is of a clearing in dense woodland

By Michelle Parsons

My name is Michelle and hopefully by the time you read this I will have qualified as a Forest Bathing Guide and be on my way to becoming a Forest Therapy Practitioner. Although I fit the ‘PDA’ profile and struggled with anxiety for most of my life, I am now a happy, thriving and confident autistic woman, which is largely down to my nature connection journey.